Public, private support to upscale education, Filipino workers’ skills dev’t

MANILA – The Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) and the government tackled the issues of upscaling education and the workers’ skills development and learning recovery programs to make the Filipino workers more flexible and highly adaptable.

In a meeting with the PSAC on December 9 at Malacanang, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte discussed the upskilling and reskilling programs of the Filipino workers.

Both President Marcos and VP Duterte believed that workers’ skills development and learning recovery programs are deemed very vital in making the Filipino workers more flexible and highly adaptable. By upskilling and reskilling the workers they said they can easily adjust to the demands in workplaces.

The meeting was attended by PSAC- Jobs Sector led by Lead Convenor Sabin Aboitiz and Sector Lead Joey Concepcion, and recommended programs that would primarily help the farmers, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) agents, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), medical practitioners among other local workers.

“PSAC agreed and is in full support of the government’s drive in upskilling, reskilling our own talents and retooling the education system. These will provide a wide range of opportunities amongst Filipino workers to create a skill-set that is future-ready,” PSAC Jobs Sector Lead and RFM President/CEO Joey Concepcion said.

Several priority programs were recommended by PSAC: giving the MSMEs access to money, markets and mentoring; enabling them to undertake digital transformation; identify labor-intensive, high-potential business segments/industry clusters that the Philippines can compete in and aggressively promote; and authorize CHED and its attached agency Unified Student Financial Assistance System (UniFAST) to immediately implement the long-term student loan provision of Republic Act No. 10931

In a report released by the Office of the Press Secretary, Pres. Marcos raised the need to retrain and reskill OFWs who wish to go back and stay in the country for good.  The President mentioned where workers in the BPO industry for instance, have ramped up efforts to upskill themselves for offshore medical jobs.

Marcos, who presided over the meeting, reported that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) eyes for additional 17 innovation centers that will help TESDA gear toward a high skills training program, hence the need for Filipino workers to upskill to stay competitive.

President Marcos has committed to helping Filipino workers flourish by streamlining existing processes and making it easier for MSMEs to thrive. (Photos: OPS)